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Ron DeSantis Sent His Goons to Intimidate Pro-Abortion Florida Voters

  

Category:  News & Politics

Via:  krishna  •  3 weeks ago  •  4 comments

By:   By Bess Levin

Ron DeSantis Sent His Goons to Intimidate Pro-Abortion Florida Voters
“They want people to read these articles and hear it on social media that the police showed up at somebody’s door and intimidated them and made them feel bad about signing an Amendment 4 petition.”

Photo: Joe Raedle.Getty Images


S E E D E D   C O N T E N T


Whenever Republicans speak approvingly about gutting   abortion   at the federal level, they swear it’s not about eradicating reproductive rights but that they are simply   sending the matter   back to individual states so residents can get a say. Of course, in reality, they don’t actually care about the will of the people, who in the US overwhelmingly   support   abortion rights.

Take Florida, for example: Last year, governor   Ron DeSantis   signed a bill banning abortion after six weeks— late at night with little fanfare , likely because he knew just how unpopular the law, which effectively outlaws abortion in the state, would be.

And now, after an abortion referendum made it on to the Florida ballot for November, he’s doing everything in his power to ensure his constituents   don’t   get to weigh in on the matter.

The Washington Post   reports  that the governor’s “election police unit is investigating alleged fraud in signature gathering for the state’s upcoming abortion referendum in a move that critics say is designed to intimidate voters.” According to the  Miami Herald,  two people have  reported  receiving visits, at their homes, from Florida law enforcement agents, and were questioned about signing a petition to add Amendment 4—which would  enshrine abortion rights  in the state Constitution—to the ballot. One of those people,

  Isaac Menasche,  reportedly wrote on Facebook that the official asked about his signature and brandished a dossier of 10 pages of his personal information. “The experience left me shaken,” Menasche wrote, adding that he found it “troubling that so much resources were devoted to this.”

The home visits follow the  news  that the DeSantis administration asked supervisors in four Florida counties to round up about 36,000 signatures for the state to review for fraud—despite the signatures already being verified by local supervisors.

Two of those supervisors told the  Tampa Bay Times  that the request from the state was highly unusual, with Osceola County supervisor of elections  Mary Jane Arrington  telling the outlet: “I have never in my tenure had a request like this one.”

And that’s not all DeSantis and Co. are doing to ensure the abortion referendum is defeated. Per   The Washington Post :

The investigation comes as Democrats and election experts express concern that DeSantis is using the powers of the state to derail the referendum, which would nullify a six-week abortion ban the Republican governor signed into law last year. The state’s health-care agency recently launched a website that claims the amendment “threatens women’s safety.”

Bacardi Jackson,   the executive director of the ACLU of Florida, said in a   statement   that it is “unprecedented for the State to expressly advocate against a citizen-led initiative,” adding: “This kind of propaganda issued by the state, using taxpayer money and operating outside of the political process sets a dangerous precedent. This is what we would expect to see from an authoritarian regime, not in the so-called Free State of Florida.”

(Cont'd)



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Krishna
Professor Expert
1  seeder  Krishna    3 weeks ago

Whenever Republicans speak approvingly about gutting   abortion   at the federal level, they swear it’s not about eradicating reproductive rights but that they are simply   sending the matter   back to individual states so residents can get a say. Of course, in reality, they don’t actually care about the will of the people, who in the US overwhelmingly   support   abortion rights.

Take Florida, for example: Last year, governor   Ron DeSantis   signed a bill banning abortion after six weeks— late at night with little fanfare , likely because he knew just how unpopular the law, which effectively outlaws abortion in the state, would be.

And now, after an abortion referendum made it on to the Florida ballot for November, he’s doing everything in his power to ensure his constituents      don’t      get to weigh in on the matter.

 
 
 
Krishna
Professor Expert
2  seeder  Krishna    3 weeks ago

According to the    Miami Herald,    two people have    reported    receiving visits, at their homes, from Florida law enforcement agents, and were questioned about signing a petition to add Amendment 4—which would    enshrine abortion rights    in the state Constitution—to the ballot. One of those people,

    Isaac Menasche,    reportedly wrote on Facebook that the official asked about his signature and brandished a dossier of 10 pages of his personal information. “The experience left me shaken,” Menasche wrote, adding that he found it “troubling that so much resources were devoted to this.”

 
 
 
Krishna
Professor Expert
3  seeder  Krishna    3 weeks ago

The home visits follow the  news  that the DeSantis administration asked supervisors in four Florida counties to round up about 36,000 signatures for the state to review for fraud—despite the signatures already being verified by local supervisors.

Democratic state representative  Fentrice Driskell  called out the DeSantis administration for what appear, quite obviously, to be intimidation tactics. “They want people to stay home and to not vote,” Driskell said. “They want people to read these articles and hear it on social media that the police showed up at somebody’s door and intimidated them and made them feel bad about signing an Amendment 4 petition.”

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
4  Kavika     3 weeks ago

No surprise, his ''stat police'' are all his invention and not required in FL.

 
 

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